This film is part of Free

Third Century: The Story of Yorkshire Post Newspapers

A look back to when local newspapers had a mass readership, affording a new state of the art building and equipment for the Yorkshire Post, with journalists pounding the streets.

Documentary 1970 24 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Yorkshire Film Archive

Overview

A peek into the world of “Yorkshire's National Newspaper” as it was in 1970, when there were six printed editions each day, and when journalists ran to red public telephone boxes to post their scoops. Also a chance to see the construction of the brutalist former Yorkshire Post building on Wellington Street, Leeds, with its then state of the art computerised typesetting. Other aspects of 1960s modernism include a large open office and Scandinavian furniture.

At its peak, in the 1950s, The Yorkshire Post sold 120,000 copies a day; a figure that had dropped to 40,000 by 2012. The Yorkshire Post premises on Wellington Street, apart from its landmark clock tower, were demolished in the spring of 2014 (now a car park). The owners, Johnston Press, transferred printing to their plant at Dinnington near Sheffield. The brutalist building, opened by of all people Prince Charles, were at the time regarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects as having made a “dramatic contribution” to Leeds, awarding it a bronze medal. The building was designed by Birmingham based architect John Madin, who also designed Birmingham Central Library, also destined for demolition.